There Has to Be a Better Way!

I had a wicked bout of insomnia two weeks ago, and sometimes when I was not sleeping, I was watching infomercials (don't worry, I didn't clean out the fridge again). They are so funny, and always seem to use the same formula.

1. Show us how difficult our life is now. How can we possibly boil pasta/organize our closets/cut through a penny/open a carton of milk?? It's just too hard! There has to be a better way!
2. Show us a revolutionary new product that will change everything!! Now that we can boil pasta/organize our closets/cut through a penny/open a carton of milk, everything in our lives will be better! We will be happier, healthier, and more beautiful! Our families will get along! Our pets will be well behaved!
3. Throw in 'the extra'. Most of the time this is something that will allow us to get it done better and faster. All for the same low price! And if we call now, we get free shipping!

I've haven't bought anything from an infomercial (yet). I am an impulsive shopper at night (I did buy a magazine subscription, though. What? It was only $3.99 for a year!) so one of these days I'm sure I will. I have bought a few things that I've seen on TV at elsewhere:

• The Perfect Pancake- I'm not sure why it seemed so hard to turn a pancake over. I had plenty of spatulas in the drawer. It does not work like it should, though, there is a gap in the side and your pancakes will slide out if you're not fast! Don't even get me started with eggs...
• The Bumpit- I've always wanted big hair. All nature gave me was thin straight hair, though. I ordered my bumpit off eBay for a low low price of $8.00. It came from Hong Kong, so it took almost a month to get here. The next week I saw them at Walgreens for $9.00. Three weeks of big hair, wasted. Even though I had to wait for it, the bumpit was a dream come true (have you ever noticed how gross that looks written down??) I had a huge lovely bump! Until the day a guy asked me in church if I was wearing a bumpit. Honeymoon. Over. The bumpits (still looks gross. I may never get over this) now sit in a basket in my bathroom collecting dust, and I have returned to teasing my hair.

There are a few things I still want:

• A Snuggie- People might make fun of it, but I would be typing on my computer nice and cozily right now, instead of having cold arms if I had one...
• A Subakawa Cloud Pillow- It's like sleeping on a cloud! And (if you haven't seen this infomercial) you can totally put an egg under your pillow, drop a 10 pound weight on it, and it won't break! I could finally sleep with eggs under my pillow!!
• Pajama Jeans- Do I really need to explain? They're pajamas that look like jeans!!

My Official New Years Resolutions!

Last year I didn't make a New Years Resolution, I guess I was already perfect :). But this year I really wanted a goal to work for. Not just something general like lose weight or be better with my money, but something that I could really measure. I had a big list of things I wanted to do, but I decided to narrow it down to two. So. Drum roll please!

1) Run a 5k.
2) Only buy used clothes, shoes, and accessories for a year.

I have walked a few 5k's (how do you pluralize that??), but I want to run the full 3.1 miles without walking or stopping. I know this probably sounds easy to a lot of people, but I am not a runner by any means. I'm going to start with an easy walking program (found here) and move my way up to running using a podcast. The best part about starting with walking? Steve has agreed to do it with me! We'll see if I can talk him into starting the running portion in two more months!

There are a few reasons I want to exclusively thrift shop this year. First of all, I want to save money. At most thrift stores I can buy a whole outfit for what one shirt would cost me at a full price store. Second, it's more environmentally sound. Third, clothes are being made with worse quality all the time. It seems that anytime I buy something new it looks old after a few wears. Fourth, I feel the need to be more creative with my clothes, and shopping in regular stores seems to stifle that creativity.

So there you have it. Wish me luck!

So Long, Farewell

Well, Christmas is over. I can't help but be a little sad. Our apartment looks so empty with all the decorations gone. And I decided to change my blog decorations as well. Happy New Year!

10 in 11

Last year I posted a list of things to do in 2010. While I didn't quite get to all of them (I'm looking at you, #8!) it was super fun. So, here is my list of ten things in 2011!

1) Clean out my closet. I mean really clean it out. This goes for my dresser drawers too.
2) Buy a lace skirt. At a thrift store.
3) Run a 5k. Seriously. I'm going to do it this year.
4) Learn how to cook a super healthy, vegetarian meal. (Not that I want to be a vegetarian, but I do think I should eat less meat.)
5) Make something crafty for my house.
6) Read Anna Karina. I honestly don't know how I've made it 26 years without doing this...
7) Pay off my credit cards!!
8) Visit both of my grandmas.
9) Go to the zoo.
10) Find a cake to send to Cakewrecks.

Good Luck 2011, You Have Big Shoes to Fill

I have to be honest, I'm a little nervous about 2011. 2010 was such a big year, how can 2011 compete? In 2010 I:

1) Finished my Master's degree! After 18 months of not having a life, being chained to my computer, and stressing about assignments, I did it!! It feels so good not to have homework anymore! I get to read a book, just for fun, and not worry that I should be reading a textbook. Amazing!

2) Got a new job! How amazing is it to wake up in the morning and not hate the thought of going into work? Pretty amazing. And going to work and not being brain numb all day? Even more amazing! Getting out at a normal hour? Awesome! Working from home once a week? Best ever!

3) Got married!! What could top this?? At the end of 2009 I never would have thought that I would be spending the end of 2010 with Steve as my husband (I also didn't think I would spend it having a Star Wars marathon, but that's another post...). He has put up with me for almost six months (if you ask him, he'll say that he's put up with me a lot longer than that!) and every day I am amazed by him. His kindness, patience, sense of humor and innate goodness never cease to amaze me. I look at him sometimes and wonder how in the world I got so lucky. I'm so happy that he is mine to keep forever!

While 2010 is going to be hard to top, there are a few thing I will not miss! The angst of planning a wedding. The stress of trying to finish assignments and get them in on time. The many marriage pounds I have gained. The struggle the first few months of marriage, trying to put two lives together to make one. The suffocating feeling that I am failing at everything.

So here's to you, 2011. I promise to do my best to make you even better than 2010!

Over-Zealous Introspection

Disclaimer: I become deeply introspective around the end of each year. If you don’t want to hear my reflections on life, you might want to check back next year.

We watched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader last week. Of course, it wasn’t as good as the books, but what movie ever is? Answer: Holes. If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book I highly recommend you do both. The movie and the book are great!! It’s a children’s book, so it’s easy to get through it in just a few hours. Anyway…

At the beginning Lucy is wishing she was beautiful. Her older sister is known for being beautiful, and she longs to look like her. I think every woman (and probably most men) can relate to this feeling. I know I can. It’s so hard not to look in the mirror and only see flaws and things I would like to change. There comes a point in the movie when Lucy is looking through a book of spells to help some unusual friends become visible again, and she stumbles across a spell for beauty. She tears the page from the book and puts it in her pocket. Later that night, she climbs out of bed and recites the spell in the mirror. She is instantly changed to look like her sister, and is transported to a party, where all eyes are on her. She realizes that by doing the spell, she has actually turned into her sister, and she no longer exists. Because she doesn’t exist, her brothers and sister never found Narnia and missed out on the greatest adventure of their lives. Aslan finds her, and asks her what she has done. She tells him that she just wanted to be beautiful, and he tells her to think of all that she has lost by making that wish.

This hit me so hard. There are so many things that I want to change about myself. I wish I were more organized, kinder, thinner, more efficient, happier, a better cook, cleaner, more beautiful, healthier. The list goes on and on. But what if, magically, all these changes happened for me? What would I lose in the process? I’m not saying that I should stop trying to improve on my weaknesses. I’m just saying that maybe we need to look at our weaknesses and see if anything is gained. Maybe we can stop criticizing ourselves long enough to think about our strengths for a while.

Why Do We Do What We Do When We Know What We Know?

When I was about 13 we had a speaker at Girls Camp talk on this subject. He talked about the Israelites, and how they saw that Moses could do all these miraculous things, part the red sea, make water come from a rock, heal people on the verge of death, and yet, they were constantly going their own way. He then brought up the point that we do the same thing. We know the right things to do, and yet, we don't do them! He made us repeat the phrase over and over until we all had it memorized, and it has stuck with me these last 13 years.

I have been thinking about this a lot, not just in relation to my life spiritually, but my life in general. Why do I not do my laundry when I know it means I will have nothing to wear on Monday? Why do I eat junk food when I know I will feel awful the next day. Why do I not say my prayers every night, when I know it brings me peace?

I have all the tools available to me to live a perfect life. I know the principles that lead to a healthy life, an organized home, a peaceful spirit. I just don't use them like I should.

Why do I do what I do when I know what I know?